Stowaway arrested again at Los Angeles airport

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A woman who flew from San Jose to Los Angeles without a boarding pass and has made repeated attempts to sneak aboard flights was arrested again Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport after wandering through terminals without an airline ticket, authorities said.

Marilyn Jean Hartman, 62, was taken into custody a day after a judge had ordered her to stay away from LAX unless she had a paid ticket, airport Police Chief Patrick Gannon said.

Hartman took a morning Flyaway shuttle bus from downtown's Union Station to the airport. Gannon said he had a feeling Hartman was going to come back to LAX without a valid ticket, so police had passed out fliers with pictures of her to airport police officers and staff.

"She was seen wandering through several terminals today in what appeared to be a scouting mission," he said.

Hartman was arrested for violating terms of her 24-month probation, which was issued Wednesday after she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of willfully and unlawfully entering the city as a stowaway on an aircraft.

When she left court, Hartman said she would never try to sneak onto a plane again.

"It was stupid, and it is something I don't want to repeat," she said.

It was unclear what charges Hartman could face following Thursday's arrest. Los Angeles city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said officials plan to review the police report while she is in custody.

A call to her attorney, Elsie Wanton, was not immediately returned.

Hartman had recently left mental health treatment that she had been ordered to attend and said homelessness drove her to take "desperate measures." She said she feels safer being in airports than in the streets.

On Monday, Hartman had tried at least three times to get to a plane before she finally went past a security screener who was busy checking a family's documents at Mineta San Jose International Airport, according to law enforcement officials. They would speak only on condition of anonymity because the security breach is being investigated.

Hartman then went through the electronic screening process before entering an airport terminal.

Her breach of security caused federal officials and the airline to launch investigations. It also prompted criticism of San Jose's airport in light of the trespassing of a teenage boy who stowed away in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines flight and survived the arduous journey to Maui.

In February, Hartman was sentenced to 18 months' probation in San Mateo County after being arrested for attempting to board three Hawaii-bound flights at the San Francisco International Airport on three separate days. In November 2010, Hartman made it as far as the airport baggage claim on the Hawaiian island of Kauai before being arrested, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Hartman told authorities in the past that she wanted to fly somewhere warm because she had cancer, said Steve Wagstaffe, district attorney for San Mateo County. Hartman had cancer but has been in remission for several years, the Chronicle reported.

Authorities placed Hartman in treatment for mental disorders in May but said she stopped attending last month. Wagstaffe said he had no plans to take any additional measures against her.

"She declined all of our efforts to offer her assistance," Wagstaffe said. "And we tried all of the alternatives we had because we weren't interested in locking her up on our end."

CHORUS: Do you know the way from San Jose. I got away without having to pay in San Jose, Do you know the way to San Jose. I'm only going back to find another mind to fleece in San Jose. L.A. is a great big leeway. And I got there in a free way. Not even a week or two I've been made a star. Thanks to security that was so bizarre. Do you know the way to San Jose. They've got lots of grace in San Jose. There'll be a place where I can stay: Airspace without a trace in San Jose. I'm going back to find some piece without a mind in San Jose. Fame and fortune is a magnet. It can pull you far, far awayfrom home. With a dream in your heart you're never alone. Dreams turn into dust and blow you away. And there you are without a friend. You get through a crack and fly away. I got no friends in San Jose. Do you know the way from San Jose. Can't wait to get out of San Jose.

What is ridiculous is that the TSA and the airport management maintain their innocence. She had no ticket. How did she get to step 1 of the TSA screening?

We're wasting a ton of money on this worthless service. Guns get through, weapons get through, and little homeless women get through. Just fire all of the TSA and we'll take our chances. At least we'd not have things stolen from our luggage as much anymore.

Say what you will, about this woman, but we owe her a debt of gratitude for exposing the security lapses at this airport. Thank God she was harmless....it easily could have been some one who wasn't !!!!